"Skirmish/RPG: Period (Round 1)" Topic

I'm not sure how "mobsters" is a period, but perhaps we may take it as a stand-in for the Prohibition era?

As noted in the pre-poll discussion, most of my skirmish gaming in recent years has been post-apocalyptic. The most recent game I played was semi-historical Viking Age, though.

Interesting how many nominations were from muzzle-loader periods. I love them for mass battle, but as a skirmish setting, it seemed to me they always involved counting turns while someone reloaded a rifle. Am I missing something?

Only one? Nope.

For the muzzle-loader period, I think the French and Indian War lends itself to skirmish gaming, but the other periods not as much.

Can't think of a RPG set during the War of 1812.

Not an RPG but there are black powder skirmish games that include the War of 1812.

I'll confess I also found the specificity of periods interesting. Hard for me to imagine all those black powder muzzle-loading flintlock periods as requiring separate rules.

I remember an old discussion about physical anthropologists being either "lumpers" or "splitters" with lumpers seeing a small number of broad types and splitters a greater number with very fine distinctions. There seems to be a similar division among historical miniatures gamers.

There are several "skirmish" rules that I believe span all periods.
They are basically toolboxes. They have movement rules, missile weapon rules, melee rules and morale.
The Sword and the Flame is my favorite. But I've also used GASLIGHT and Gloire.
The mechanics are useable for hundreds of years.
Heck, throw in Dungeons and Dragons too.
GASLIGHT uses … science. 🙄 But I've used those exact science rules to cover a shaman controlling yetis. And I've also used GASLIGHT for straight French and Indian War skirmish battles with no science or magic.
TSATF is "set in late Victorian colonial" battles. Yet I've used it for Maiwand, the Sudan … and FIW and AWI.

This is basically a Poll that I do not understand. 🤷

It's about you being (by some irresistible force) limited to a specific period for skirmish/rpg gaming, not to a single rulesset. If you choose ancients you can presumably play your ancients games using Chain of Command 2 if you so prefer.

My intent was to show that I can and have played "skirmish" type games in multiple periods using several rules sets. I have no intention of limiting myself to any one period.
Nor do I intend to let the results of the poll have any influence on what I do.

I'll put you down as a "lumper" John. I won't say you can't use a single rules set for all skirmish games, but I'd have said five or six broad periods were more convenient:
Ancients (Body armor and different melee weapons.)
Black Powder (Reloading times.)
Colonials (Formations and asymetrical warfare.)
Moderns (Starting with automatic weapons.)
SF (The return of body armor--and maybe melee weapons.)
Fantasy (Ancients with magic and racial modifiers.)

Doing it all in one set means having huge areas not applicable to any given game, which plays hob with my objective of 1-4 page rules.

I've played Jacobite games with various skirmish rules. Not a problem, I can think up lots of interesting scenarios for these. I'd think plenty of low-intensity black powder-era conflicts would lend themselves to skirmish gaming, esp. the North American wars between natives and all comers. (And reaching back earlier, Vikings vs. Skraelings!)

PS: I take "mobsters" to be fantastical gangland wars during Prohibition, or gangsters vs. law enforcement, or similar. Basically "Pulp" in my mind.